Products like milk, water, fruit juices, frequently disclose an off-taste when stored in bottles of polyethylene or polyethylene-coated cartons. This project was undertaken to identify and quantify the "packaging flavor" components in milk packaged in polyethylene-coated paperboard containers. For this purpose volatile components from water stored in milk cartons were collected into an adsorbent trap, using a purge and trap apparatus. The components from the adsorbent trap were then transferred to gas chromatograph using a thermal desorption unit. The chromatogram's obtained from the gas chromatograph analysis of the water samples exhibited the presence of peaks which were not present in the control samples. The components contributing to these peaks are being investigated by subjecting the samples to analysis using thermal desorption GC-MS. Once these components are identified, work will be carried out to determine the mechanism of off-flavor development and develop methods and/or materials which will reduce or eliminate the off-flavor.